By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Hurricanes gear up for first round playoff matchup with Rebels

Mar 22, 2017 | 10:59 AM

LETHBRIDGE – It’s that time of year again.

After six seasons of misery and watching other WHL teams enjoy playoff hockey, the Lethbridge Hurricanes are making their second straight trip to the post-season.

Last year’s club entered the first round against the Regina Pats, having finished first in the Central Division and fourth overall in the league. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean much to Regina, as they cruised past Lethbridge in five games.

This year — despite the fact that the Hurricanes finished only one point higher in the standings (95) and second in the division to Medicine Hat — things feel different as they get set to take on the Red Deer Rebels.

“I don’t think last year was disappointing, I think last year was a real important step for our organization,” stated Lethbridge Head Coach, Brent Kisio. “When you haven’t made playoffs in a long time, you win your division in the regular season, you make playoffs, that’s a step in the right direction, that’s a step that had to be taken. Now we’ve got to find a way to take the next step, and that’s win a playoff round and see how far we can push here.”

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Kisio acknowledged that they didn’t get out of the gate this season as strong as they would have liked — going .500 through their first eight games, then dropping six in a row, winning back-to-back and then losing another five straight. He stated that it took a while for the team to find their game, and for some of the new additions to get comfortable on a new club.

As for the turnaround, he gives the credit to the players.

“I think we came closer as a team, I think our leadership in the room did a real good job,” he explained. “Some of our older guys like [Giorgio] Estephan, [Tyler] Wong, [Stuart] Skinner, [Brennan] Menell really took over the room, and we brought in some good guys, some good team guys, and we kind of went from there.”

Taking a look at the season series against the Rebels, the Hurricanes appear to hold a distinct advantage. They went 5-0-1-0 against Red Deer, outscoring them 26-13 and dominating the special teams battle, with a power-play that scored on 34-per cent of their opportunities and a penalty kill that operated at a solid 89-per cent.

When asked about the matchup though, Kisio said those numbers mean very little at this time of year.

“We all start with zero points right now and zero wins, so it’s kind of starting fresh. We got to really worry about that first game and try to take the lead in the series,” he stated. “They’re a really good opponent, they skate well, they have good forwards, their back-end can really move the puck, guys like [Colton] Bobyk can shoot and they have good goaltending, so it’s going to be a tough matchup. But that’s called playoff hockey and that’s what we’re excited for.”

The conversation then moved to what the team will need to do to be successful in the playoffs. Kisio explained that throughout the season they were at their best when they played a solid defensive game and avoided trying to score their way out of trouble. He added that in a season that saw the Hurricanes beat teams by scores like 8-1 and 7-3, he was most impressed by the 4-3 and 3-2 wins.

As for what happens now, with a full week off between the end of the regular season (Mar. 18) and the start of playoffs (Mar. 25), Kisio says the focus is on keeping things light.

“We’ll kind of try to build the excitement as we go, we’ll prepare a couple things each day and then hopefully come Saturday night we’re really, really focused and excited and ready to go.”